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It’s 25 years since The Crystal Maze blew its way on to British television screens like so much fluttering confetti inside a stupid big dome.

Occasionally exciting, almost always silly and most importantly, bloody good fun, the Channel 4 show attracted millions of viewers and dozens of parodies.

Presented first by Richard O’Brien and then by Ed Tudor-Pole, The Crystal Maze required a team of contestants to collect as many shiny orbs as they could in the space of an hour, before they then flapped around aimlessly inside the dome of despair.

It was all a bit pointless, really. And it was brilliant, putting viewers through the full gamut of emotions. Here they are:

1. The opening credits… ace!

Deng-deng deng-deng… deng-deng! The Crystal Maze music was one of the show’s highlights, a precursor to the Futuristic zone, but, oddly, none of the others.

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2. Brilliant! It’s the Futuristic zone!

Come on. It was the best zone around. Why would you want to hang out in the Industrial zone when you could go to the future? It looked a bit like Tron mixed with Blade Runner, with about 1,000th of the budget.

3. Why isn’t the Futuristic zone as exciting as it should be?

A bit like Back To The Future Part II, the Futuristic zone just wasn’t as cool as it could have been. The lurid greens and blues and reds shone brightly, but behind the colour blast, there was a lame game where you had to avoid dislodging a spider’s web.

4. How many leopards did Richard O’Brien kill to make that jacket?

Host O’Brien moved from leopard print to plain black and white fur as his tenure on The Crystal Maze progressed. Which, from the man who wrote The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was practically dressing down.

5. Aw, cool, he plays the harmonica!

While the contestants were shouting at one of their own who couldn’t work out how to procure a crystal, O’Brien often turned to camera and showed off his musical prowess, a welcome interlude from cries of ‘You’ve got 30 seconds, Phil!’

6. Is there more than one tune you can play on the harmonica?

The noise of the damn thing did get annoying after a while.

7. The Krypton Factor just called. They want their tracksuits back.

So. Much. Shell. Suit. No one said participating in a game show was fashionable.

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8. The Medieval zone!

This was where O’Brien’s dear old Mumsey lived. Until she left the show and took him with her to live on the west coast of the US with her boyfriend, Dwayne. No, I did not just make that up.

9. Ugh. The Ocean zone! Time for a cup of tea…

The Ocean zone replaced the Industrial zone in Series 4. The production team were going for Atlantis, but it came off a bit local municipal swimming pool. The Aztec zone never lost its street cred.

10. Bet some of these contestants couldn’t even make a cup of tea.

Of all The Crystal Maze parodies, nothing beats the one by The Mary Whitehouse Experience.

11. Bring on the games.

There were four categories: skill, mental, physical and and mystery. As a kid, I just wanted the dimwitted contestants to do physical tasks all the time so I could watch them wildly flail around before getting locked in.

12. YOU IDIOT! Get on the pole!

It didn’t matter how much the people on the other side of the door shouted, the contestant in play tended to do their own thing. Sometimes that meant falling in water. A lot.

13. YOU IDIOT! For the love of God, man… PRESS U3!!

It was always hard to decide who was more annoying: the dolt inside the room who invariably couldn’t work out the simple instructions, or the gaggle of gawkers on the outside, chirping platitudes and confusing directions.

14. Quit shouting how much time your team-mate has left! You’re not helping!

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The digital readouts and sand timers were there for that one annoying contestant who just had to shout out in panic every ten seconds.

15. There is a doctor on the set in case someone falls, right?

In the early- to mid-1990s, when the show ran, health and safety had yet to be invented. Which was just as well, given some of the mad jumps and pitfalls that awaited the contestants behind the game doors.

This was The Crystal Maze’s greatest element; asking the contestants who much they really cared about each other. Hmmm… should we buy out that mouthy bloke who slagged us all off earlier when we were struggling, now that he’s suffered an automatic lock-in? Nah.

17. To the Crystal Dome! WOO-HOO! WILL YOU START THE FANS, PLEASE!

The Crystal Dome marked the end of the game, when all that effort would finally pay off. Once inside, the remaining contestants had to collect 100 more gold tickets than silver in the time their collected crystals had earned, and it was remarkably tough, with only about one in five teams winning the overall prize.

18. Shouldn’t each crystal be worth a bit more than five seconds in the Crystal Dome?

Five seconds per crystal always seemed a bit harsh. The dome had the big build-up, but some teams were only in there for about 20 seconds.

19. What a rip-off!

After all that effort, those lucky enough to win the overall prize were treated to… an adventure day out. Uh, didn’t they just have that? Winners or not, they still got a ‘I Cracked The Crystal Maze’ commemorative crystal. Yes!